The problem of cleaning paint brushes is well-known, but the prior art has not been able to provide a simple, closable brush holder and cleaner in which the brush may readily be cleaned in the container and supported for storage in the closed container with the bristles covered by fluid but away from the sediment.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,436,217, apparatus is provided for supporting a paint brush either inside or outside a paint container, but without any provision for cleaning the brush. The brush holder of U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,332 is designed for holding the brush immersed in a paint container in order to obviate the need for cleaning it between uses. There is no provision for brush cleaning. Buslik, U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,670, provides a brush-holding lid for a container of cleaning solvent in which the brush is taped to an opening in the lid. U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,582 provides a cylindrical container for paint brush cleaning fluid, adapted for cleaning a paint roller cover or paint brushes, in which the paint brush or roller cover is suspended from a rod. U.S. Pat. No. 3,393,412 provides a series of barbed needle-like members extending from the base of a container, for expediting the removal of dried paint from paint brushes.
McGrath, U.S. Pat. No. 3,252,613, shows a painter's kit in which removal of excess paint from the brush and its return to the can is facilitated. U.S. Pat. No. 2,908,026 shows a method of resting a brush on an inclined wall, dipped into cleaning solvent. The container is not closed, thereby allowing noxious vapors from the solvent to escape to the atmosphere. U.S. Pat. No. 2,782,909 shows a paint brush storage device in which the brush is supported while immersed in solvent, but no means for cleaning the bristles of the brush is shown. Similarly Switzer, U.S. Pat. No. 2,776,050, shows a brush suspended in cleaning fluid without any means for cleaning the bristles. Olsen, U.S. Pat. No. 1,851,521, shows a brush held by three piercing elements which pass through the handle of the brush.
None of the patents described above discloses a brush holder in which the bristles may be cleaned by a comb which then supports the brush in the cleaning solvent, above the level of sediment in the bottom of the container.